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By significantly increasing the speed of functional MRI (fMRI), NIBIB-funded researchers have been able to image rapidly fluctuating brain activity during human thought. fMRI measures changes in blood oxygenation, which were previously thought to be too slow to detect the subtle neuronal activity associated with higher order brain functions. The new discovery is a significant step towards realizing a central goal of neuroscience research: mapping the brain networks responsible for human cognitive functions such as perception, attention, and awareness.

A research team has developed a first-of-its-kind soft, flexible microfluidic device that easily adheres to the skin and measures the wearer's sweat to show how his or her body is responding to exercise. Read more at Northwestern Research News.

Scientists report using human pluripotent stem cells to grow human intestinal tissues that have functioning nerves in a laboratory, and then using these to recreate and study a severe intestinal nerve disorder called Hirschsprung’s disease. Read more at Engadget.

Imagine swallowing a pill today that continues releasing the daily dose of a medicine you need for the next week, month or even longer. Investigators have developed a long-acting drug delivery capsule that may help to do just that in the future. To test the capsule's real-world applications, the team used both mathematical modeling and animal models to investigate the effects of delivering a sustained therapeutic dose of a drug called ivermectin, which is used to treat parasitic infections. Read more at MIT News.

Researchers have combined one of nature’s tiny miracles, the diatom, with a version of inkjet printing and optical sensing to create an exceptional sensing device that may be up to 10 million times more sensitive than some other commonly used approaches. Read more at Phys.Org.